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Government proposes new legislation on military intelligence

On 25.1.2018, the Government submitted to
Parliament a proposal for an act on military intelligence and related
legislation.

Military intelligence is a key part of
Finland’s defence readiness. The purpose is to monitor developments in the
security environment and produce information on the current situation to
support the decision-making of the top political and military leaders. Military
intelligence provides advance warning of military threats against Finland and
supports other authorities.

The Defence Forces’ powers to gather
intelligence are inadequate compared to other countries and the changed
security environment.

Technology has made strong progress and
military communications has moved from an analogue environment to a digital
one. As a result, without powers specified in legislation it is very difficult
to gain access to critical intelligence.

The proposal would improve the Defence
Forces’ ability to gather intelligence on serious international threats related
to the defence tasks as the Defence Forces would be granted powers to conduct
human intelligence, information system intelligence, radio signals
intelligence, and telecommunications intelligence.

The purpose of military intelligence would be
to gather information in Finland and abroad. Intelligence targets military
activities, such as activities by a foreign country’s armed forces and troops
comparable to them, intelligence targeting Finland’s national defence,
development and distribution of military supplies and action that may endanger
Finland’s national defence or functions vital for society.

In addition, the new legislation would
include provisions on the principles of intelligence activities, and the
directing and oversight of intelligence operations in the defence
administration. Military intelligence authorities would include the Defence
Command Finland and the Finnish Defence Forces Intelligence Agency.

The legislative proposals included in the
government proposal can be considered in accordance with the ordinary
legislative procedure, with the exception of proposals on powers that pertain
to the secrecy of confidential communications. It would be possible, however,
to lay down provisions on them in accordance with the ordinary legislative
procedure, pursuant to the proposed new grounds for limitation regarding
intelligence gathering under section 10, subsection 4 of the Constitution.